The role of response styles in the assessment of intraindividual personality variability

Although personality psychologists often focus on between-person differences, understanding intraindividual variability is also a critical focus of the subdiscipline. Despite the fact that non-self-report techniques exist for assessing variability, questionnaire-based measures are still the norm. In two studies (N = 149 and N = 202) we examine the possibility that intraindividual variability measures derived from repeated self-report assessments are affected by certain response styles. These studies, which use a variety of techniques for assessing within-person variability, show that standard measures are moderately to strongly correlated with theoretically unrelated variability measures, including those based on ratings of satisfaction with neutral objects or the personality of cartoon characters. These results raise questions about the validity and utility of widely used measures for assessing intraindividual variability.     

Personality self-concept affects processing of trait adjectives in the self-reference memory paradigm

We combined personality, social cognitive, and cognitive paradigms for researching the self. Specifically, we examined whether personality trait assessments are associated with variation in the cognitive processes that produce the self-reference effect in memory. We found that self-reported, but not indirectly assessed, trait orderliness (Study 1; N = 98) and openness (Study 2; N = 92) were associated with slower free recall when corresponding trait adjectives were self-referenced, but not when adjectives were encoded in control tasks. The slower recall showed mixed predictive validity. Results suggest that personality congruent adjectives elicit more elaborative processing in the form of propositions that arise during self-reference, which counter-intuitively slows recall in a manner consistent with random search memory models and cue overload theory.     

Is doing your homework associated with becoming more conscientious?

Research has shown that sustained homework effort enhances academic performance and that students’ conscientiousness is a powerful predictor of students’ homework effort. But does homework—as homework proponents claim—in turn also influence the development of conscientiousness over time? In the present study, we examined whether students’ homework effort in two subjects (i.e., mathematics and German) was associated with inter-individual differences in students’ development of conscientiousness in the early years of adolescence. Bivariate change models with a total of N = 2760 students revealed that homework effort and conscientiousness were systematically related over time (Grade 5 to Grade 8). Most importantly, students who invested more effort in their homework showed more positive development in conscientiousness.     

服务行业员工的人格特质、情绪劳动策略与心理健康的关系

研究采用问卷法, 抽取服务行业员工样本357份, 探讨人格特质(QZPS)、情绪劳动策略对心理健康的作用机制。结果显示：(1) 在QZPS中, 善良预测较少的表层动作, 较多的自动调节; 才干预测较多的深层加工; 行事风格预测较多自动调节; 情绪性预测较少的深层加工; 他人指向预测较少的表层调节, 较多的自动调节; 自我指向预测较多的深层调节; 事物指向预测较多的自动调节和深层加工, 较少的表层动作。(2) 表层劳动预测较差的心理健康, 深层劳动和自动调节预测较好的心理健康。(3) 表层动作在善良、他人指向与心理健康之间起显著中介作用, 深层加工在情绪性、才干、自我指向、事物指向与心理健康之间起显著中介作用。自动调节在善良、行事风格、事物指向与心理健康之间起显著的中介作用。(4) 外向性可直接作用于心理健康。研究显示, 外向性、善良、才干、行事风格、他人指向、自我指向、事物指向等QZPS特质高分者都比较容易适应服务行业, “情绪性”高分者从事服务行业工作将有较大的心理健康代价。另外, 从深层调节和自动调节角度开展心理健康培训、职业心理咨询及自我调节, 可增强员工对服务工作的适应性, 并促进心理健康。     

激情犯和累惯犯暴力态度的比较

实验采用《FMMU变态人格危险性评估问卷》和内隐联想测验分别测量激情犯和累惯犯的外显和内隐暴力态度, 探讨激情犯和累惯犯外显和内隐暴力态度特点及预测特征。研究发现, 激情犯和累惯犯的外显态度有显著差异, 但是内隐态度未见显著差异。由于部分罪犯在内隐态度中出现反转效应, 将激情犯和累惯犯分为激情犯未反转组和反转组, 累惯犯未反转组和反转组, 这四个组都产生了显著的IAT效应, 并且每个组的外显态度和内隐态度都发生了分离。从结果可见即使是同一犯罪类型, 犯罪时都实施了暴力行为, 但暴力态度却有差异。在测量外显暴力态度的基础上, 结合内隐暴力态度的测量, 将细化犯罪人分类, 为不同特点的犯罪人实施不同的改造和处遇方案提供新的思路。     

The contribution of “cool” and “hot” components of decision-making in adolescence: Implications for developmental psychopathology

Impairments in either “cool” or “hot” processes may represent two pathways to deficient decision-making. Whereas cool processes are associated with cognitive and rational decisions, hot processes are associated with emotional, affective, and visceral processes. In this study, 168 boys were administered a card-playing task at ages 13 and 14 years to assess response perseveration. This task was designed to initially reward playing and gradually associate playing with punishment. Measures of subjective ordering (cool processes) and neuroticism (hot processes) at age 13 years were used to examine how these individual characteristics relate to perseveration over time. A decrease in perseveration from age 13 to 14 was associated with cool processes whereas hot processes were associated with response perseveration only over time. A complementary but simultaneous assessment of cool and hot processes, such as neuropsychological and personality tests, could facilitate treatment planning of children with behavioral problems.     

儒家的人格结构及心理学扩展

人生儒学的核心是"成人"。"成人"的构成的因素和结构如何?这是理解儒家学理、中国人精神面貌的重要方面。文章从儒家典籍入手,归纳出其人格结构因素为"仁"、"礼"、"知"三因素。"仁"、"礼"、"知"体现出"德"属性,互动决定了儒家人格结构的"仁道"终极目标和"知命"社会功能——"命"可行时,外在事功,实现"外王";"命"不可行时,内在超越,完善心灵。"仁"、"礼"、"知"的充分发展并"知命",即为圣人、君子;不完全发展,即为民;缺乏则为小人。文章进而尝试从儒家的人格结构拓展出现代心理学意义的人格结构理论。     

Testing 1, 2, 3, …4? The personality of repeat SAT test takers and their testing outcomes

The current study considered the correlates of test retaking. In particular, the personality trait of neuroticism was proposed to be related to retaking the SAT test. Results revealed that, accounting for initial SAT score and the other Big Five factors of personality, neuroticism predicted the number of times an individual took the SAT before attending college. Further, the results of a latent growth model indicated that, for those who retook the SAT, test scores showed improvement over time. None of the Big Five predicted changes in SAT scores. Results are discussed in light of the possible benefits of high levels of neuroticism for SAT score improvement.     

Individual differences in the social facilitation effect: A review and meta-analysis

The present study reviews the social facilitation literature and identifies two overarching responses to social presence: negative-apprehensive and positive-self-assured. These responses correspond to two general orientations toward the social environment described in current personality literature: a negative orientation, comprised of neuroticism and low self-esteem; and a positive orientation, comprised of extraversion and high self-esteem. A meta-analysis reveals that social presence is associated with performance impairment for negatively oriented individuals, and with performance improvement for positively oriented individuals. Additional analysis reveals that personality is a more substantial moderator of the effect of social presence than is task complexity. The results of this study open a new avenue in the research on social facilitation, encouraging a closer inspection of the meaning that various individuals attribute to social presence.     

Change and stability of sense of coherence in adulthood: Longitudinal evidence from the Healthy Child study

The main aim of this three-wave 35-year follow-up study among Finnish employees (n = 532) was to investigate whether Sense of Coherence (SOC) is more stable among those with high SOC compared to those with low SOC, as hypothesized by Antonovsky [Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unraveling the mystery of health: how people manage stress and stay well. San Francisco, CA, US: Jossey-Bass], using two measurement points over 13 years. The participants were first studied in adolescence in 1961–1963, after which they responded to two postal questionnaires measuring SOC, first in 1985, and again in 1998. The results of the Factor Mixture Modeling identified two groups of individuals with different levels and mean changes of SOC: high-SOC (n = 344) and low-SOC (n = 188) individuals. The results supported Antonovsky’s hypothesis: SOC was more stable among high-SOC individuals (stability coefficient 0.57) than among low-SOC individuals (0.31). The results further supported the factor structure of the 11-item SOC scale. However, out of the five generalized resistance resources investigated in adolescence, only the level of home care was associated with SOC in adulthood.